RALEIGH METAL RECYCLING
METAL COMMODITIES AND RECYCLING REPORT
APRIL 27TH, 2015
2310 GARNER ROAD
RALEIGH, NC, 27610
This
is the Commodities and Recycling Report, brought to you by BENLEE the industry
leader in roll off trailers and open top scrap trailers, as well as Raleigh and
Goldsboro Metal Recycling, the leaders in North Carolina for scrap metal,
cardboard, electronics and junk cars.
Today
is Monday, April 27th, 2015.
My name is Greg Brown, President and CEO of the companies.
Last
week while there was some very bad news, we saw some stabilization in the commodities
markets which is a clear positive.
As
expected, Steel Dynamics released their earnings last week and said that OmniSource,
the country’s second largest recycler, lost money in the first quarter. Related, Nucor Steel released that their
recycling division’s profit declined. Nucor also released that their DRI plant in Louisiana,
that makes a scrap steel substitute, was back on line in recent weeks. This plant back on line is just another
factor in keeping scrap steel prices low.
 |
| Raleigh Metal Recycling Steel Prices |
There
has been stabilization of the euro vs. the dollar, but with the euro at about
$1.08 to the dollar, this is still a major incentive to have scrap metal and
finished goods steel, flow into the U.S. from Europe.
The low euro along with dynamics such as the continuing decline in the oil rig count, continue to put pressure on steel production and prices.
Last week the oil rig count fell for the 20th week in a row. At the current 704 rigs, it is 56% below last October’s high of 1,609.
 |
| Baker Hughes - US Oil Rig Count Graph |
Oil, though, is now up about 18% from the lows of a few months ago, so this rapid oil rig decline should be slowing soon.
On the positive side, with auto production strong and with construction in the U.S. getting a bit better, steel production is off its lows.
 |
| AMM - Steel Production Graph |
Copper had some highs and lows last week, but remains in a range for the past 6 weeks and is about $2.76 per pound this morning.
 |
| Raleigh Metal Recycling Copper |
Aluminum traded in a similar way last week and is about where it was two months ago.
 |
| Raleigh Metal Recycling, Copper |
There
were some mixed signals in the economy last week with the government releasing
that orders for durable goods were up a nice 4%, but it was mostly due to
orders for commercial aircraft. Behind
these numbers was that last month was the 7th month in a row of declines in
business investment. Michael Montgomery
of IHS Global Insight said, "The report was yet
another false positive that looks good in the headline but is eroding away
underneath.
New home sales were released last
week and fell more than 11 percent, to 481,000, which was off its recent 7 year
high. Importantly, new home sales are still
running less than half its high of over 1 million units in 2006. Tight lending by banks and enormous student
debt are major drags on this market.
Wall Street while somewhat being
fueled by leverage of people buying on margin, continues to do very well. As noted above, while fuel prices are rising,
they are still below last year, so we hope the wealth effect of Wall Street,
combined with lower fuel prices, will get the economy through some of its soft
spots.
It was great to see so many friends,
customers and suppliers at the ISRI meeting last week.
There
were no changes to our copper prices in North Carolina last week, with our
Raleigh prices of #1 copper being purchased for $2.36 per pound. Prepared Steel is still being purchased for
$6.25 per hundred pounds.
With
that we hope all have a safe and profitable week. Tune in next week for the Commodities
and Recycling Report.
